Strange Creatures

Prepare and Embark

This part's art belongs to rejected3 on tumblr. It's pretty much irrelevant to the story other than that it's Keith being annoyed by mermaid Lance.

xXx

The sun rose on Keith sitting by the embers of the dying fire, setting various packages and objects in front of himself, checking each to ensure that it met his criteria. As the morning slowly grew brighter, Lance stirred from where he rested below the waves and swam closer to shore. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"I'm getting ready to save my crew," Keith answered shortly.

Lance's voice was suddenly right next to his ear. "Why do you have all this stuff?" he asked.

Keith recoiled, staring wide-eyed at the strange sight before him. "Since when could you come on shore?" he asked, startled. He could see drag marks in the sand from the edge of the water to where Lance was now.

Lance shrugged. "Since always." He grinned. "I can stay on land just so long as I stay nice and wet." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Keith gave him a disgusted look and turned away.

"I'm sorry, I heard that was a human joke and I thought I'd try it out! Don't get mad at me!" he pleaded.

"Do you even know what it means?" Keith asked in a weary tone, moving a bundle of dried fish to the side.

Lance beamed. "Not really," he said in an oddly proud voice.

Keith nodded slowly, clearly done with trying to understand why Lance must be this way. "Clearly."

"But what's all this stuff for?" Lance repeated.

"I'm getting ready to get my crew back," was the firm reply as he stood up and surveyed the various supplies.

"Well, isn't that optimistic." Lance picked up a strip of leather. "What's this for?"

Keith took it from him and pocketed it. "That's a sling for Pidge in case they got rid of their stuff."

Lance furrowed his brows. "I have no idea what you mean by any of that."

"You know, a sling to throw rocks. And the guys who captured them might have gotten rid of their usual weapons, so I made a sling for Pidge until we get away and can find something better. The rest of them..." He shrugged. "The pirates will have similar weapons, or they can improvise."

"I... see..." Lance said hesitantly. He looked at the remaining things resting in the sand in front of Keith. "So what's the rest of it for?"

"It's mostly food and water, since I can't just eat raw fish that you bring me, and I've already told you that I can't drink saltwater." He paused. "Well, technically--" He shook his head. "Nope, never mind. It would just complicate things more."

Lance nodded. "Okay, so what do you need help with?"

Keith picked up several of the packages and carried them over to the boat. "Well, it wouldn't seem that you can carry anything, so nothing you can really help with." He dropped them in the bottom and returned to the pile of coals that used to be his fire. "You might want to get back in the water," he commented, noticing Lance looking rather uncomfortable on the dry sand. Lance nodded and turned around, then shoved himself back into the quiet water with a few pushes of his powerful tail. As Keith picked up another armload of supplies, he saw how Lance was moving and grew curious. "How strong is your tail?" he asked as the mermaid settled comfortably a few yards from shore.